Iran: Petition for the Lives of Hamzeh and Loghman, Two Young Gay Men Who Risk Death Sentence

January 28, 2008 in Death Penalty, Gay, Gay Life, Gay Rights, GLBT, GWB, Homophobia, Homosexuality, Iran, Pegah Emambakhsh, Petition, Queer, Sexual Orientation

Petition for the lives of Hamzeh and Loghman: two young gay men who are in love and who risk the death sentence in Iran. And let’s not forget Pegah: the United Kingdom could still hand her over to the executioner.

To: UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; UN High Commissioner for Refugees; UN General Secretary; International Federation of Iranian Refugee; President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; Minister of Justice of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi; UK Governement; UK Home Office Secretary; National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC); President of the European Parliament; President of the European Commission; British Embassy in Italy; Iranian Embassy in Italy; Iranian Embassy in UK; Radical Trans-national Party

Petition for the lives of Hamzeh and Loghman: two young gay men who are in love and who risk the death sentence in Iran. And let’s not forget Pegah: the United Kingdom could still hand her over to the executioner.

by EveryOne Group (www.everyonegroup.com)

The Islamic Republic of Iran is persecuting homosexuals, dissidents and free thinkers, and carrying out political crimes towards them.
Homosexual relationships in Iran are considered a crime liable to sadistic corporal punishment and the death sentence. On January 23rd, 2008, Hamzeh Chavi and Loghman Hamzehpour, two homosexual young men of 18 and 19, were arrested in Sardasht, in Iranian Azerbaijan. The authorities use physical and psychological torture to obtain confessions from people who fall into their hands, and the two young men admitted to being in love and having a relationship. Their confession was enough for the Islamic court to commit them to trial with two very serious charges: Mohareb, the crime of those who are “enemies of Allah” and Lavat, sodomy. Iranian criminal law envisages the gallows for homosexuals, who are considered “enemies of Allah”.
Nevertheless, there are many moderate political and religious figures in Iran who would like to change things and prevent the loss of so many innocent lives. The majority of Iranians are against the horrors of capital punishment through hanging and stoning; only a few extremists believe torture and flogging are admissible methods. The clandestine human rights movements are fighting heroically against these barbaric practices, risking their own lives in an effort to build a better Iran, a country in which minorities are respected and human life becomes a value once more. Thousands of Muslims believe Allah is a God of love, that the death sentences and brutal corporal punishment are crimes against humanity. On December 5th, 2007 an innocent Iranian boy was martyred by the Teheran regime and then murdered on the scaffold. From all over the world, in answer to the campaign for the life of Makwan Moloudzadeh – promoted by EveryOne Group – thousands of Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and non-believers sent red and white flowers to President Ahmadinejad and the Iranian judges: red, in an attempt to avoid the spilling of innocent blood; white to implore his executioners to spare the life of yet another blameless condemned man. This vast international campaign served only to delay an execution which had already been decided.
Today Makwan is the symbol of the martyrdom of the many innocent victims of a ruthless regime. Let us also remember Pegah Emambakhsh, the Iranian lesbian woman who is still waiting for the result of her appeal in the United Kingdom, and who risks being deported to Iran, where torture and stoning await her. EveryOne has received worrying news from the United Kingdom, where the Court of Appeal does not appear inclined to grant Pegah political asylum – in defiance of all the international conventions. Pegah is crushed by the attitude of the British Government and has told us she is tired of fighting, she is reluctant to appear in the newspapers and no longer believes in what Anne Frank defined as “man’s inner goodness”. We must respect Pegah’s wishes, but we have to be ready to say no to the ritish Government, which has abandoned the path of respect for the rights of women, homosexuals and refugees. We have to be ready to raise a chorus of protest, throughout the world, in order to stop the hand of the executioner and his accomplices.

That is why we are asking you to devote a few minutes of your time to this petition; add your signature and send a protest to all the addresses listed below, because many human lives, the concept of justice itself and the value of human rights are at stake here.

For EveryOne Group
Salvate i due gay iraniani dalla forca, Corriere della Sera

Human rights activists are concerned about the safety of two homosexuals arrested in Iran, Iran Human Rights

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